All About the Observations

“I should have been able to tell. She should have been clear,” (p. 274).

Ok so it’s two sentences but they’re little ones. I’m not entirely sure why this line stood out so heavily for me. I think it comes down to the observation and commentary heavy narrative of Siri. For a character that observes in such detail, is so good at reading people, every point where his key strength; his ability to analyze, fails, it stands out all the more starkly. It kind of hammered home how even with all of his skill and experience with reading people his disassociation with others still leaves him at a disadvantage sometimes. It illustrates how his condition exacerbates the problems with his interactions with others. In this case in reference to the title of the novel: blindsight. Trying to identify the nature of the scramblers the character Susan relates their existence to an individual afflicted with blindsight over every sense. An existence that is totally deadened to the environment around the individual. The mental image is a significantly off-putting one but it is when Siri is not able to tell whether Susan believes what she is saying, doesn’t know or is hiding something that strikes me as so interesting every time I read that passage of the book.